Coltart gets serious as Tour stakes rise

It may be a case of friends reunited in the European Tour's qualifying school, which gets under way in Girona today, but Andrew Coltart has warned Alastair Forysth and Marc Warren there will be no old pals' act in north east Spain.

"This week, above all others, is about looking after No 1 and thinking about no one else around you," said Coltart of the tense six-round shoot-out at PGA Golf de Catalunya.

"I'm sure at night Alastair, Marc and myself will get together for some company at dinner but on the course you are absolutely on your own. It's the longest week of the year and by far the toughest because the stakes are so different from any other week of the year.

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"Most weeks you are playing for money, at tour school you are just battling for the right to play and you can feel the nervousness in the air. The silence is eerie.

"Usually on tour there will be loads of banter on the range and the practice green but at Q School it's like people are scared to talk because everyone is under so much pressure. There are no spectators and no banter so it all adds to this feeling of isolation."

Jack Doherty, Jamie McLeary, Chris Doak, Raymond Russell, Scott Drummond and Lloyd and Elliot Saltman are also in the field for the six-round test.

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